Dutra will get new sentencing hearing

Thursday

Dec 21, 2006 at 12:01 AM

Sarah Dutra, the California State University, Sacramento, student convicted for her role in the 2001 poisoning murder of Woodbridge attorney Larry McNabney, deserves a hearing that could reduce her 11-year sentence for manslaughter, a state appeals court ruled Wednesday.

The Record

Sarah Dutra, the California State University, Sacramento, student convicted for her role in the 2001 poisoning murder of Woodbridge attorney Larry McNabney, deserves a hearing that could reduce her 11-year sentence for manslaughter, a state appeals court ruled Wednesday.

The Third District Court of Appeal split 2-1 on its opinion, which found that San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Bernard Garber should have granted her a sentencing hearing last year.

Dutra fell under the sway of con artist Laren Jordan Sims, who married McNabney and took control of his finances.

Sims poisoned McNabney while they were attending a horse show with Dutra in Southern California, and McNabney died Sept. 11, 2001, at his Woodbridge home.

Dutra helped Sims move McNabney, failed to call authorities to help him, helped Sims hide his body in a refrigerator and kept his death a secret while helping Sims spend his money.

McNabney's body was found in a Linden vineyard on Feb. 5, 2002.

Sims fled the area, was arrested in Florida and killed herself in jail before she could be extradited.

Dutra was tried for murder, but a San Joaquin County jury found her guilty of voluntary manslaughter and accessory after the fact. Garber imposed the 11-year sentence.

Dutra appealed her conviction and sentence.

After the Third District Court of Appeals upheld her conviction, it told prosecutors they could either request Garber reduce Dutra's sentence to six years or hold a sentencing hearing.

Once the California Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of her conviction, the Court of Appeals ordered a sentencing hearing for Dutra.

Garber, however, decided that the hearing wasn't necessary, citing a recent opinion by the state Supreme Court in an unrelated case, and wouldn't hear arguments by Dutra's attorney.

Wednesday's ruling, written by Justice Fred K. Morrison and backed by Justice Cole Blease, found that Garber overstepped his authority and ordered a sentencing trial for Dutra before a different judge.

In his dissent, Justice Rick Sims wrote that Dutra is being given a procedural right that most defendants do not receive and that her sentence was not a miscarriage of justice.